Valve for ovens



H. C, MAUL.

VALVE FOR OVENS.

APPucATloN FILED DFC. 17. 1917.

Patented June lll, K552i..

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animi/14201 HENRY C. MAUL, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, SSIS-NOR TO THE MICHIGAN STOVE COMPANY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

vALvn ron ovens.

Application filed December T0 @ZZ whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, HENRY C. MAUL, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Detroit, in the county of `Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented. certain new and useful Improvements in a Valve for Ovens, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to ovens having two or more burners, generally one above the other, adapted to be independently operated, such burners ordinarily having individual valves controlling the supply of fuel to the burners, and my invention resides in providing a single three-way valve for controlling the supply of fuel to the burners so that one burner can only be supplied with fuel at a time.

In an oven where gas is used for fuel, there must be an air inlet to supply oxygen to the burners to maintain combustion and an outlet for the products of combustion to escape up a flue, and asv heat naturally rises, the inlet is generally at the bottom and the outlet at or near the top. With two burners in the same oven, one above the other, both burning at the same time, the lower burner will consume all the available oxygen in the air and the upper burner will get only the products of combustion from the lower burner, with insufhcient oxygen and will be extinguished, which condition will4 allow the unconsumed gases to be drawn into the flue with the danger of exploding, if these gases should happen to get the proper mixture of oxygen in the flue. Since the upper burner is only used for broiling meats or toasting, and the lower one for baking and roasting, they should never be used at the same time, therefore, my threeway valve prevents the possibility of using both burners at the same time.

My invention also resides in novel means for holding the three-way valve against accidental actuation, and this and other features of my invention will be hereinafter more fully referred to and pointed out in the appended claim.

Reference will now be had to the drawings wherein Figure 1 is a front elevation of a conventional form of oven having two burners controlled in accordance with my invention,

Fig. 2 .is a detailed sectional viewv of the Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J' une 14, 1921.

17, 1917. serial No. 207,542.

three-way valve adapted for contolling the oven burners, and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the threeway valve.

The reference numeral 1 denotes by the way of aneXample, a conventional form of oven or stove having a door 2, an upper horizontally disposed burner 3, and a lower horizontally disposed burner 4. The upper and lower burners are also Vof conventional form and have fuel inletpipes 5 extending out of the wall 6 of the oven and provided with air mixing devices 7, which are of the ordinary and well known type used in connection with gas burning ranges or stoves.

The reference numeral 8 denotes a vertical pipe having the ends thereof communieating with the air -miXing devices of the oven, so as to supply gas or other fuel to the inlet pipes 5 of the burners 3 and 4, and intermediate the ends of the vertical pipe 8 there is a three-way valve body 9 connected' to a gas or other fuel supply pipe 10.

IThe three-way valve body necessarily has passages 11 communicating with the pipes S and 10 and rotatable in the valve 'body 9 is a valve plug or stem 12 having a handle or l crank 13 and a radially disposed member 14 at one end thereof. The plug or stem 12 hasa transverse straight port 1'5 and communicating therewith is `a radially Vdisposed port 16, preferably at right angles to the transverse port 15, thusleaving a solid portion or blank wall 17 in connection with the plug or stem that may close either one of the passages 11, depending on the position in which the plug or stem 12 is placed.

Suitably connected to the wall 6 of the oven 1 is a resilient notched or grooved keeper 1S for the radially disposed member 14 of the valve plug or stem, and the notch or groove of the keeper is adapted to receive the rounded end of the member 14 and thus hold the valve plug or stem against accidental rotation. lt is preferable to place the handle 13 and the member 14 in the saine plane, with the handle 13 projecting from one side of the valve plug or stem, and the member 14 from the opposite side thereof, and it is furthermore, preferable to have the handle 13 and the member 14 in a plane at right angles to the axis of the transverse port 15. It is therefore evident that when the member 14 is in engagement with the n Now, when the handle 13 is swung upwardly and said handle and member 14E are in the same vertical plane as the pipe 8,-

then the valve plug or stem is turned coun terclockwise a quarter of a revolution, placing one end of the port 15 in communication with the pipe `10 and the `port 16 in communication with the lower end of the pipe 8. `Gras or fuel can then flow through one end of the port 15 into the port 16 and into the lower end of the pipe 8 to supply the lower burner el., and it will be impossible to use the upper burner 3 without affecting the operation of the lower burner.

Before the `upper burner 3 can be placed in operation, it is necessary that the threeway valve be operated and in so doing the gas is lirstshut olf to the lower burner and then turned on for the upper burner. To shut off the lower burner 4:, the valve plug or stem isturned clockwise for a quarter of a revolution, placin the plug or stem in the position shown in ig. 2, and by continuing the clockwise movement of the plug or stein, the port 16 is brought into communication with the upper end of the pipe 8 establishing communication between the supply pipe 10 and the upper burner 3. Vith the valve plug or stem in this position the blank wall 17 is presented in the passage` l1communicating-with the lower end of the pipe 8, and it is therefore impossible to use the lower burner 4; while the upper burner 3 is in operation.

An instance has been known, where through inadvertence, carelessness, or actual ignorance, burners equipped with independent valves have had the gas or fuel turned on and only` one burner properly lighted, thus resulting in an explosion injurious to the range (ii-stove and very often to the person or persons about the stove. Then again, some types of ovens having burners are only built to have one burner operated at a time, that is, provision is made for proper ventilation of the oven, during the operation of one burner, and to prevent food from being overcooked or ruined by a cook or person placing both burners in operation, `it is essential that some provision be made to prevent this, the above and other accidents from occurring. "The -difliculty has been solved by the use of the single three-way valve previously described, associated with the keeper 18 and particun larly the member lt which will indicate the burner in operation or'when the gas or fuel is shut off. Y

lt is thought thatthe utility of my invention will be apparent without further description, and while in the drawing there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of the same, it is tov be understood that the-structural elements are susceptible to'roarrangement `and such changes as fall within the scope of the appendedclaim. i

lVhat'I claim is:- Y

Means forpreventing accidental actuation of a valve having more than one adjustment relative to `a stove, comprising a re'- silient member, adapted to have one end thereof fixed to the stove adjacent said valve and its opposite end freefto be frictionally engaged, anda valve member in alinenient with and opposed to the usual handle of the valve and movable therewith, said resilient member having its free end disposed at a tangent to the are in which the valve member moves so that said valve member may engage said resilient member from two 

